Heritage Action supports the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act and will include the vote as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.
This week, the Senate will vote on S. 109 the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act. This bill would prohibit federal taxpayer funds from going towards abortion and health benefits plans that include coverage of abortion. It would also prevent federal tax dollars from being entangled in abortion coverage under Obamacare.
Introduced by Sens. Lankford (R-Okla.), Wicker (R-Miss.), and Roberts (R-Kan.), the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is a pro-life, pro-taxpayer bill because it ensures that Americans who strongly disagree with abortions are not forced to pay for them with their federal tax dollars. Unfortunately, recent reports show that Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, and its affiliates received over $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars from 2013 to 2015.
According to Heritage Foundation research assistant Monica Burke,
Despite receiving billions in taxpayer funds over the course of three years, Planned Parenthood’s scope and services have both declined. The organization’s 2015-2016 report revealed that Planned Parenthood served 100,000 fewer women in 2015-2016 compared to 2014-2015. Their number of health centers and affiliates declined, and they performed fewer cancer screenings and prevention services.They also performed fewer breast examinations, fewer HPV vaccinations, and provided prenatal services to 8,000 fewer women than the previous year. But the abortion giant did perform several thousand more abortions than the year prior: 328,348 compared to the previous year’s 323,999. Moreover, Planned Parenthood performed 83 abortions for every one adoption referral.
In addition, the Heritage Foundation notes that Congress failed to apply long standing protections against federal funding of abortion or abortion coverage to the totality of Obamacare, potentially allowing large taxpayer subsidies to flow to health plans that cover elective abortion.They explain, "taxpayers will now foot the bill for federal subsidies for the purchase of health plans on the exchanges . . . and some of those plans could cover elective abortion."
Not only is this unfair to the taxpayers who do not want to help pay for elective abortions, it is immoral because it often happens without their knowledge. Heritage added:
Under Obamacare, individuals and families who live in states that allow abortion coverage on their exchanges could end up paying directly for coverage of elective abortions, possibly without their knowledge. Individuals enrolled in one of the federally subsidized exchange plans that cover abortion will be forced to pay a surcharge of at least $12 per year—and possibly much more—out of their own pockets. Many individuals and families who would otherwise object to paying for abortion coverage may not even be aware of the surcharge. Insurers are allowed under Obamacare to disclose the existence and amount of the abortion surcharge only at the time of enrollment, and that warning may be as little as a single sentence in a massive plan document.
Taxpayers should be protected against all funding of abortion and abortion coverage. Of course, to truly protect Americans' freedom to purchase the health care plans that meet their needs and respect their values, Obamacare must be replaced with something better such as The Health Care Choices Proposal. In the meantime, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act provides essential protections to federal taxpayers from being forced to fund abortion or abortion coverage. Most importantly, it permanently enshrines in federal law a policy that saves thousands of innocent lives every year.
Heritage Action supports the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2019 and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.
Related:
The Heritage Foundation: New Report Shows Planned Parenthood Raked in $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Funds Over 3 Years
National Review: Make the Hyde Amendment Permanent
Heritage Action for America Scorecard: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2017 (H.R. 7)
The Heritage Foundation: Obamacare’s Abortion Surcharge and Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Coverage
The Heritage Foundation: Obamacare’s Many Loopholes: Forcing Individuals and Taxpayers to Fund Elective Abortion Coverage
Heritage Action supports the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act and will include the vote as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.